Foreclosure law firm lays off nearly half of its staff, after losing Fannie Mae

February 14, 2011|By Diane C. Lade, Sun Sentinel

A Hollywood law firm that processes thousands of foreclosures for major lenders laid off almost half of its 568 employees Monday, days after the government-owned mortgage giant Fannie Mae pulled its files from the practice.

Ben-Ezra & Katz, in a memo released by a company spokesman, said the firm was "forced to take this action after Fannie Mae surprisingly terminated its relationship with the firm." In a notice sent five days ago, Fannie Mae officials said all exisiting foreclosures, mediations and bankruptcies needed to be transferred to other loan servicers by Tuesday, citing "document execution" issues.

Ben-Ezra officials issued a statement last week, saying the question was whether correct original documents were attached to each foreclosure filing. The law firm said it already had notified Fannie of the "technical paperwork issues" and had created a plan to mediate them, but the mortgage backer suddenly decided to cut ties.

It's unknown how many foreclosures are involved. Statewide, Ben-Ezra & Katz has handled at least 18,000 cases, according to Legalprise, a West Palm Beach data analysis firm.

Monday's layoffs echoed the massive job cuts that the law office of David J. Stern and public-traded affiliate DJSP Enterprises instituted after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the other federal mortgage guarantor, dumped them. Fannie and Freddie comprised the bulk of Stern's business. About 700 Stern employees lost their jobs, according to regulatory filings.

Former staffers later sued, saying Stern's operations did not give them the 60-day notice required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notificiation, or WARN, Act. A Ben-Ezra spokesman said WARN notices were sent on Monday to all employees.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Maxine Cohen Lando expressed her displeasure Friday in a case that involved a property in Homestead with a $265,134 foreclosure judgment issued in July.

Lando said the so-called original note and original mortgage were filed months after the bank said those documents were lost.

"That in itself is a fraud upon the court," Lando wrote in an order to show cause as to why she should not hold Ben-Ezra & Katz attorneys in contempt.

But, she added, the action "pales in comparison" to the fact that the mortgage and note are to a different property in Lehigh Acres, and that the documents are improperly signed and notarized. Lando said her verbal contempt finding on Friday would be followed by a written order.

Although Marc Ben-Ezra, 44, was not the direct attorney handling the case, the homeowner's attorney Maria Mussari said the judge ordered the owner or head of the firm to appear. Ben-Ezra has no disciplinary history with the Florida Bar .

The judge dismissed the foreclosure case and banned the lender from refiling it.